The Might of Demacia
by Gammamou
Summary: Garen is sent on a mission into the Shadow Isles with his closest ally, Ezreal. What help will they receive on the way to this supposed "god forsaken" land?  Reviews and comments would be nice!


In the land of Valoran there was a mighty warrior who led the Dauntless Vanguard of Demacia. The warrior wielded a massive two-handed sword and wore equally sized armor. The sword's guard is gold with two blue gemstones embedded in each side opposite of each other and the blade is engraved with great design. The warriors armor consisted of huge pauldrons, bracers, a breastplate, and an armored belt all of gold and blue. He also wore gauntlets, pants, and boots of a darker color. The warrior's name is Garen, The Might of Demacia.

Garen heard a knocking on his room's door, "Enter." Garen said. The door opened, "Hello Garen." the person said. Garen turned from adorning his armor to see Ezreal smiling at him. "Well hello there old friend!" Garen said.

Garen noted that Ezreal was wearing his usual outfit of brown boots, blue jeans, white undershirt, brown jacket, blue scarf, leather gloves and goggles on top of his head. His left glove, however, had an amulet that allowed him to control magical powers at will.

"Ah, not much has changed now has it Ezreal?" Garen asked. "No it hasn't Garen, but now it has, the King would like to see us immediately." Ezreal said the smile slipping from his face. "What does he want with us now?" asked Garen, "I thought we would have more time off after the last mission he sent us on. I was about to go train with my vanguard."

Garen went back to putting on his armor while pondering what the King could want on such short notice. "I don't know, but we better not keep him waiting. You know he doesn't like waiting." Ezreal said with a small laugh.

Garen snickered at this too, "Yes, I remember the time a servant didn't get him his food fast enough and the King had him put in the dungeon for a week." Ezreal smiled at that because the King's face had turned so red it could have been an apple.

"Yes that was an interesting day, but everyone has some bad days and the servant picked the wrong day to be slow" Ezreal said. "Yes he did. Well we better get going," Garen said turning to a servant "Go tell my vanguard that training is cancelled today and that they can go have fun tonight." The servant nodded and scurried from the room.

"Okay, let's go" Garen said while putting on his last gauntlet. Ezreal nodded in agreement and walked from the room. Garen sighed, "Hope this isn't anything too bad." Garen grabbed his sword and walked out of his room.

(break)

The King's palace was grand from the outside, but the inside was even more so. The hall that Garen and Ezreal proceeded to walk down was dazzling; gold and blue tapestries hung from the walls , the floor was polished marble, and there were many great portraits of the past kings.

"No matter how many times I walk through these halls it never gets any less amazing" Garen said, "It reminds me of the pride I have in the land I fight so hard to protect."

Ezreal nodded his head in agreement, "Yes it is quite a sight no matter how many times you have seen it."

Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound and shouting from the throne room. Garen and Ezreal exchanged confused looks and rushed down the hall to see what was going on.

When they get to the throne room they see the King yelling at a servant. "What's wrong your majesty?" asks Garen.

"This imbecile dropped my wine!" the King said angrily, "he is the most unreliable servant I have ever had! I should have him banished from the palace for such incompetence!"

"Please no your majesty!" the servant pleaded, "I have a family to take care of and I can't get a job else where!"

"Please your majesty" Garen said, "everyone makes mistakes sometimes, give him another chance. I'm sure he won't mess up again."

"Fine, just get out of my sight before I change my mind" the King said with a angry glare at the servant.

"Thank you so much your majesty!" the servant said with great relief and hurried away. He mouthed thank you to Garen and left the room.

The King sat down in his throne made of gold, it had blue cushions, and gems embedded into the sides. "Well, now that that is done with" the King sighed, "I supposed you two are curious why I called you here today?"

"Yes we are your majesty" Garen and Ezreal said in unison.

The King took a deep breath before speaking "There has been talk of an evil ruler in the Shadow Isles." The King shuddered at speaking that name, "I have always hated that god forsaken place." The King sat up and stared at his best warrior and best explorer. "I've heard the intentions of this new ruler aren't good for the time of peace you brought us Garen."

"What would you have us do your majesty?" Ezreal asked.

The King took another deep breath before continuing "I need you both to go to the Shadow Isles to find out more of the new rulers intentions before anything happens."

"What!" Garen asked with surprise, "Going to the Shadow Isles is a suicide mission! No force that has been sent there has returned back."

"That's why I need my best warriors to go" the King said, "There are none better in the land than Garen, The Might of Demacia and Ezreal, The Prodigal Explorer."

"But…" Garen began before the King cut him off with a wave of the hand.

"I will take no complaints" the King said flatly, "I have faith in both of you to return with as much information as possible so we can either protect ourselves or attack if they have evil intentions. Now go get ready, I will have a servant prepare your horses outside the palace. Oh and I have a suggestion for you, seek out my old friend Zilean, he will prove to be a very powerful ally. He is in the clock tower in the Urtistan wastelands."

The King waved them out of the room turning to a servant, but the words were lost behind the closed door to Garen and Ezreal. "This isn't going to be easy" Ezreal sighed, "you are right Garen this is very likely a suicide mission."

Garen shook his head in disbelief "I can't believe he is only sending us! Two men going to a place where no army has returned from!"

"Garen, the King has faith in us to do our best" Ezreal said putting his hang on Garen's shoulder, "We can do this, I know we can."

Ezreal turned and started to walk away "I'll meet you by the gate" he called over his shoulder before disappearing into thin air.

"I will never understand that magic stuff" Garen said, "I will only believe in my sword and armor." He pulled his sword from his back and swung it around for confidence "Yes, no magic for me" he said with a smile and walked back down the dazzling hall.

(break)

Before heading to the gate to meet with Ezreal, Garen decided to go tell his vanguard what was going on. The barracks where the vanguard was kept was near the main gate to town for quick protection of the town in emergencies. The barracks wasn't very nice for the lead members of the army of Demacia but it kept them used to being uncomfortable. The vanguard consisted of ten elite soldiers, eleven including Garen, that lead in the front of the main army. Ezreal was a member of the vanguard himself, he was their scout, he knew the land like no other person in Demacia. As Garen approached he heard someone shouting inside. Garen sighed and continued to go inside to see what was going on.

"I'm not short!" yelled a small girl with pigtails, "I'm normal size!"

Garen stood in the doorway watching what was going on. The other members had their backs turned to the door so no one knew he was standing there. It looked to Garen like they were making fun of Poppy again for her height. Garen didn't understand why considering she was a yordle and they were all small.

"Oh yes you are" a short man by human standards said with a laugh, "You are short indeed."

"But you're short too Alex!" whined Poppy, "Why doesn't anyone make fun of you for being short?"

Alex laughed at this, "It's because I'm not as short as YOU are Poppy." Alex turned to go to his bed when Poppy tackled his legs. "What a cheap shot!" Alex shouted, "Just like a short person to take cheap shots to compensate."

"Stop this nonsense now!" Garen said with authority, "I let you have the day off and this is how you spend it? Fighting like children? It's pathetic!" All of them were cowed under Garen's fury. "Alex, I can only assume you started this?" Garen asked.

"I… It was only out of fun" Alex said looking at the ground not daring to look at Garen.

"Fun? You think making fun of your fellow soldiers is fun? We are the force the army depends on to scout and take out anything not worth the army fighting. We are the most important piece of the army besides the commander himself!" Garen said with anger, "We are the veterans, the elite, just because Poppy is the newest one of us doesn't mean you can make fun of her."

"Ha!" Poppy said, "You got in trouble!"

"Enough!" Garen said glaring over at Poppy, "Just because I am creating order in _my_ unit doesn't mean any one person is in trouble. Also just because you are the newest member doesn't mean I am going to treat any of you differently from one another."

Poppy looked down with a pouting look on her face, she is still young and not used to the usual scolding by their leader. "I'm sorry" she said quietly.

"No need for apologies, everyone makes mistakes and you are the new one and not quite used to how we are supposed to act" glaring at Alex then turning back to them all, "Now I came here to tell you all something important." They all looked at him with expectant eyes, "Ezreal and I are leaving and we don't know when we will return."

Garen watched as all their draws dropped in surprise "Why?" asked Alex in confusion, "What are you doing that we can't help you with?"

"The King has us on a mission to head to the Shadow Isles to gather information about the new supposed evil leader" Garen said, "And as for why you can't go it should be obvious, who would help defend the town while we were away?" Alex was about to say something but his mouth closed because Garen was right, there was no answer because there wasn't anyone else.

"Anyways" Garen said, "I need someone to take over for me while I am away." Garen looked around and their faces and noticed one person not in company. "Where is Taric?"

"He said we were too loud…" Poppy said shyly, "He got up and left to find somewhere quieter."

Garen sighed, "Does anyone know where he went? I need to speak to him about this too."

"He always goes by the lake! Under the big tree in the shade, right out the west gate!" Alex said excitedly hoping to return into good favor with Garen.

"Thanks" Garen said turning to leave, "And by the way Alex, sucking up won't work. You should know that by now." After Garen left everyone started laughing and Alex just stood there looking at the floor embarrassed.

Garen walked towards the west gate to find Taric. As Garen walked he took in the city. Many of the buildings where short and heavily built to resist assault in case there was a breach in the gates. Made of metal and stone in the colors of their land, blue and gold. The west gate was on the other side of the market area where vendors sold various goods for varying prices. He walked by a vendor selling pie, in particular it was blueberry. Garen's mouth watered as he got closer to the stand because of the smell. "How much for the blueberry pie?" Garen asked sniffing in the aroma of the pie.

"Only five silver pieces" the vendor said, "That's a steal around here, blueberries are hard to come by this season."

Garen dug into his money pouch and pulled out a gold coin "Here" he said tossing the coin to the vendor, "You found the right customer today, blueberry is my favorite!"

The vendor gratefully stuffed the coin into his pocket "Thank you sir! You are so generous!" he said with a cry of joy.

"No problem" Garen said, "Just make sure it goes to good use." He grabbed the pie and took off towards the gate, mouth still watering.

As Garen approached the western gate the guards recognized him, "Hello Garen!" one of the guards yelled, "What can we do for you today?"

"Did Taric pass through here earlier?" Garen asked "I need to speak to him about something urgent."

"Yes, he did come through here a while ago" the guard responded "He looked rather irritated about something. Said he just wanted to go relax in peace."

"Okay, I'll need you to open the gate so I can go find him" Garen said to the guard.

"No problem" the guard replied. "Open the gate for Garen!" the guard shouted and the gate began to open.

"Thank you" Garen said "We'll be returning shortly." Garen walked through the gate and continued to walk down the road. He heard the loud boom of the gate closing and being locked into place by the machinery. The gate itself from the outside was made of solid metal just like the walls of the city. The walls were almost impossible to penetrate and had only happened once before when the enemy had a massive cannon that shot gigantic balls of what looked like energy. The battle was swiftly won after the cannon was destroyed because the breach was easily sealed by warriors.

The lake had come into sight after about ten minutes of walking so Garen began to look around for Taric. He remembered Alex saying something about a big tree he would sit under but there were many of those types of trees in the area. Giving up search by sight he decided to call out to Taric. "Taric!" Garen shouted "Taric where are you? I have an urgent matter we need to speak about!"

"Garen?" a voice said from a nearby tree, "I'm over here and would you mind quieting down, that's exactly what I came out here to avoid. To bask in the wonderful silence of nature."

Taric was a middle aged man with flowing brown hair. He wore plate armor that was embedded with enormous sapphire gems. He had on the ground next to him his shield that was also had a diamond shaped gem in the middle of it and a mace which head was made completely of sapphire.

"I am sorry, but this is an urgent matter" Garen said, "The King is sending Ezreal and I on a mission to the Shadow Isles."

"Oh really?" Taric said with surprise, "He must have great trust in you to send you to that god forsaken piece of the world. But what does this have to do with me? Couldn't you have left a message with the other members of the vanguard?"

"I could have if it was that easy" Garen said, "But as it is I will be gone and there will be no leader for the vanguard in my absence. I need you to lead them while I'm gone. Keep them trained and in order just as I would."

"What?" Taric said in shock "Why me? Why not one of the others?"

"It is simple Taric, it's because you are the best to replace me" Garen said calmly, "I would trust none of the others as much as I trust you to do this. Especially if I don't come back, the vanguard will be yours. Next to myself you are the one the others look up to as a great leader."

"I never knew that I was so highly looked upon" Taric said quietly, "It will be my honor to act as temporary leader of the Vanguard of Demacia until you return Garen."

"If I return" Garen said under his breath, "I believe this is a suicide mission, but the King believes otherwise. He has gave us a strong opinion to go find an old friend of his by the name of Zilean."

"You will return" Taric said with confidence, "You are the mightiest warrior in all of Demacia!"

"That may be true but according to the King there is a supposed evil ruler in the Shadow Isles. Rumors are that whoever it is, is extremely violent and deadly. I was talking to some of the merchants who go near that area in the market and they said people go there and never return. Possibly dead or enslaved by this evil King."

"I see…" Taric said pondering over something, "You said the King's friends name was Zilean? I've heard that name somewhere before. Hmm… OH YES! I read a book in the library about the history of Demacia, Zilean and the King fought together in a great war. He is a time wizard if my memory serves correctly. Rumors say because of his immortality from an incident during the time when Urtistan was still around he went mad."

"Hmm… I would guess living forever seeing any number of your friends and loved ones die would get the better of any man" Garen said, "It's a shame, no man should ever have to suffer through something like that."

"Yes, it is a terrible fate" Taric said turning around to look into the lake, "Any clue when you will return Garen?"

"No I do not Taric, but I'm assuming it will be a long and vicious journey" Garen said with a sigh "Well I better be going to get this over with as soon as possible."

Taric turned around to Garen and held out his hand "Good luck" he said. Garen grasped his hand and turned to walk back to town to meet with Ezreal.


End file.
